Syrian insurgents entered the central city of Hama on Thursday after days of intense clashes with government forces as they push forward with their week-long offensive that brought large parts of Syria under their control.

The Syrian army said it has withdrawn from Hama after insurgents broke through its defenses marking another setback for President Bashar Assad, days after losing the country’s largest city. The Syrian army said it redeployed from Hama and took positions outside the city to protect the lives of civilians.

The insurgents’s next target is likely to be the central city of Homs, the country’s third largest. Homs, which is about 40 km south of Hama, is the gate to the capital Damascus, Assad’s seat of power and the coastal region that is a base of support for him.

Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the de facto leader of the Syrian insurgency announced in a video message that the insurgency reached the city of Hama in a “conquering that is not vengeful, but one of mercy and compassion”.

The capture of Hama, Syria’s fourth largest city, is another blow to Assad days after insurgents captured much of the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s largest city.

Al-Golani is the leader of the most powerful insurgent group in Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which long served as al Qaida’s branch in Syria and is considered a terrorist group by the U.N. as well as countries including the US. He publicly toured the city of Aleppo on Wednesday and spoke about Hama on Thursday from an undisclosed location in what appears to be a video filmed with a mobile phone.

AP